A bustling Medicare business, coupled with smaller improvements in its employer and individual insurance units, helped drive double-digit profit growth at UnitedHealth Group.
Revenue at the Minnetonka, Minn.-based insurer — which controls the United Healthcare and Optum brands — grew 12 percent to $226.2 billion in 2018. Net income at the largest U.S. coverage provider rose 14 percent to nearly $12 billion, or $12.19 per share, the company said Tuesday.
Supporting the growth was an enrollment jump of 615,000 in its United Healthcare Medicare business, driving revenue up 14 percent to $75.5 billion.
After the company exited most of the exchanges created by Obamacare in 2017, sales in UnitedHealthcare’s employer and individual insurance sector grew 5 percent to $54 billion in the next 12 months.
CEO David Wichmann attributed the results to the company’s 300,000-person workforce. “Their efforts led to accelerating growth across our enterprise in 2018 and created strong momentum for 2019,” he said in a statement.
UnitedHealth expects profit for 2019 to reach as high as $14 per share. The company’s stock fell 0.4 percent to $248.06 per share in New York trading.
